First images of Toyota’s new World Rally Championship contender for 2027 have been captured, indicating a shift away from the GR Yaris model which has been used since 2022.
A prototype car, built to the upcoming WRC27 regulations, was snapped testing in the mountains of Portugal’s Algarve region by a local rally fan, Marcio Pereira. The images show a two-door coupé body shape dropped on top of Rally2 running gear – the engine note identical to that of the current GR Yaris Rally2.
DirtFish can confirm that the photos and videos are authentic footage of Toyota’s WRC27 car.
Toyota's WRC27 prototype does not resemble any current production model, creating the possibility that its bodywork relates to an as-yet unreleased GR model
While Toyota technical director Tom Fowler wouldn’t be drawn on what the new car was, he confirmed the prototype was currently being tested.
“At this point in time we are already running our prototype test car,” Fowler told DirtFish. “The design team are concentrating on all of the feedback that’s coming from that car and working around issues and improvements.
“The original target was to start running the car in 2026. We met that target. The car has been running for a few tests already and it’s definitely done more than 2000 kilometers. I can’t tell you the exact figure.”
The spaceframe-based chassis regulations allow manufacturers to drop bodywork from any vehicle onto a WRC27 car so long as it fits within a window of predefined dimensions. That means Toyota’s WRC27 challenger will share the same drivetrain as the GR Yaris Rally2, but can run bodywork matching another vehicle from Toyota’s road car lineup.
Toyota's FT-Se concept from 2024 hinted at the possibility of a new two-door sportscar sitting underneath the Supra in its future model lineup
Toyota does not currently mass-produce a vehicle matching the shape shown in the testing photos. However, the FT-Se concept car demonstrated by Toyota in 2024 hinted at a future two-door coupé model positioned below the current Supra flagship and upcoming GR GT.
